GST council leaves decision on tax structure of restaurants to the Ministerial Committee

Major relief for small traders with turnover up to INR 1.5 cr

By TBM Staff | Mumbai

At the 22nd GST council meeting which was held to hear out various issues that rose during the first two months of GST implementation in the country, Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Government of India, said, "The decision on reducing the GST on A/c and non A/c restaurants has been left to ministerial committee. A group of ministers (GoM) will relook tax on AC restaurants." Eating out is set to become cheaper with the GST council in-principle agreeing to reduce the GST rate from the current 18% to 12%. The GoM will submit its report in 14 days.

In a major relief to small businesses, the council has decided to allow businesses with up to INR 1.5 cr annual turn over to file their returns four times in a year.

Also, Finance Minister said that 1% tax will be applicable on traders under composition scheme. The composition scheme net has been widened to taxpayers with turnover up to INR 1 crore.